A new report finds New York's rising cost of living and having living-wage jobs are priority issues for young voters.
Research shows a single person has to make almost $27 per hour to afford to live in New York State. On average, tipped-wage workers make almost $18 an hour with tips.
One way to help young voters is eliminating the $10 subminimum wage.
Saru Jayaraman, co-founder and president of One Fair Wage, said this could slow down so-called "tip-flation."
"As long as the restaurant industry gets this exemption that they don't have to pay the minimum wage," said Jayaraman, "every other industry that's facing staffing crises, rather than doing what they should be doing, they are also attempting to introduce tipping as a way to replace what they really need to do - which is to raise wages."
A bill ending the subminimum wage for restaurant workers has been introduced in New York's Legislature, but faces opposition from groups such as the National Restaurant Organization.
Restaurants argue forcing them to raise wages would erode their already narrow profit margins, and force them to lay off staff or cut hours.
But restaurants in other states are seeing dividends from paying workers a full minimum wage - plus tips.
Several states have ballot measures this year for voters to decide whether to end the subminimum wage. Seven states, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., have abolished the subminimum wage.
By providing a living wage, the businesses can attract people to work in an industry struggling with its post-pandemic recovery.
Jayaraman said incidents of sexual harassment decline for restaurants paying workers a full wage.
"When you're not so dependent on tips to make up your base wage, you can reject harassment from customers, because you can count on a wage from your boss like every other worker in every other industry," said Jayaraman.
Studies show female tipped workers in states using the federal sub-minimum wage experienced sexual harassment twice as often, and were told by management to wear "sexier clothes" three times as often than workers in states without a tipped minimum wage.
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More than 500 Missouri businesses are rallying for Proposition A, pushing for a $15 per hour minimum wage and paid sick leave by 2026.
Backed by the group Missouri Business for a Healthy Economy, Proposition A plans to raise the minimum wage to $13.75 an hour next year and $15 by 2026, with additional annual cost-of-living adjustments. Tipped workers must earn at least half the minimum rate, plus tips.
Andi Montee, owner of the Mokaska Coffee Shop in St. Joseph, believes the wage increase would enhance Missouri's appeal.
"Having that standard and that security is just really important for people to look at Missouri for one as a place where they could live, where they could stay," Montee asserted. "Especially for young people who often times want to kind of move outside of the places they might have grown up in."
Not everyone is on board with the increase. Business groups like the Missouri Chamber of Commerce warned higher wages and required paid sick leave could increase costs, leading some businesses to cut staff, reduce hours or raise prices.
Despite the concerns, Missouri's minimum wage keeps rising, set at $12 in 2023 and adjusted to $12.30 in 2024. Montee believes higher wages for employees benefit employers as well.
"We will fight tooth and nail to keep our staff kind of working there, because training somebody is difficult, it costs money and it has all kinds of things that pop up in the long term," Montee outlined. "We feel pretty strongly that having that higher minimum wage is really a mutually beneficial thing."
Still, critics of the increase do not believe employers will benefit at all, contending it could harm young and entry-level workers, who might see fewer job openings as businesses face rising costs.
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A meeting last week between the Board of Education and its teachers' union in one Illinois town has left one group unhappy.
Members have voiced their displeasure with what it views as a lack of urgency in negotiations for better pay and more support. Contracts for the Meridian Federation of Teachers in Macon expired in August. Seventy teachers who are part of the bargaining unit have met with the board only six times since June.
Brian Pekovitch, teacher and president of the union, said they are seeking a resolution.
"We have another session planned with the mediator on Wednesday," Pekovitch noted. "We're very hopeful that we will be able to resolve these differences and come to an agreement to avoid a strike. That's the absolute last resort that we want to have happen."
Ninety-two percent of voting members of the union agreed last week to authorize a strike if more substantial progress is not made. The district has had difficulties even attracting substitute teachers for the school year. According to the education site niche.com, Macon County's teacher-to-student ratio is 14-1.
Pekovitch praised the support of parents and argued teachers are shouldering more than what their job description requires, which is taking a toll. He acknowledged teaching has changed from pre-pandemic days causing classrooms to struggle to meet students' needs. The union wants teachers to stay in the district and not seek higher salaries elsewhere.
"Our biggest thing has been just teacher retention," Pekovitch explained. "There's a problem with our pay when you're looking at teachers that have longevity in the district. Once you've been here longer, if you have higher education, there's just some gaps in there that we're trying to close to keep our more experienced teachers here."
Niche.com indicates the average teacher salary in the district is around $56,000. Pekovitch added the mindset that nice schools and newer technology alone would attract people to want to be in Macon "is just not the case anymore." The Meridian Community Unit School District serves a little more than 900 students in grades pre-K through 12.
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People in Arizona who have completed a registered apprenticeship program could see an average of an almost 50% increase in earnings, according to a recent report by the Senate Joint Economic Committee.
Joann Bueno, director of the state apprenticeship program for the Arizona Department of Economic Security, said people in the Grand Canyon State who are in a registered apprenticeship program start off at a certain wage but are guaranteed increases throughout the duration of their program. Bueno pointed out registered apprenticeship programs provide paid employment, on-the-job training and continued learning, all with little to no school debt.
"It is a program that pretty much moves everyone forward," Bueno explained. "Whether it is upskilling them, giving them added knowledge to become more skilled, it is also launching them into a better career pathway and a quality of life."
Bueno noted she has spoken to many Arizonans who have completed registered apprenticeship programs who call it "transformative." While most apprenticeship participants are white and male, Bueno stressed Arizona is making progress when it comes to recruiting more women and people with disabilities.
Bueno emphasized the programs are aiming to fill jobs in manufacturing, construction, education and added the state is getting closer to developing programs to respond to the critical needs of the health care industry.
"Hopefully, we could get to Alabama status," Bueno said. "Alabama right now has recognized registered nursing apprenticeships as an alternative pathway to being a registered nurse and there is such a need for those."
Bueno observed Arizona universities and community colleges are "banding together" with industry to be able to get there. The department is also working to diversify the pathways for people to become teachers, hoping to reduce the shortage. The new apprenticeship program is scheduled to be up and running in a matter of months.
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